Soccer: Crew wants to be assertive on road

Saturday

Mar 31, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 31, 2012 at 9:06 AM

With the Crew renewing its rivalry today at Toronto, coach Robert Warzycha has aggression on his mind. After his team's 2-0 victory March 24 over Montreal, Warzycha praised his team's aggressive style of play that resulted in a number of scoring opportunities.

Adam Jardy, The Columbus Dispatch

With the Crew renewing its rivalry today at Toronto, coach Robert Warzycha has aggression on his mind.

After his team's 2-0 victory March 24 over Montreal, Warzycha praised his team's aggressive style of play that resulted in a number of scoring opportunities.

But after the season-opening 2-0 loss at Colorado on March 10, Warzycha indicated that playing assertive soccer would be difficult away from the friendly confines of Crew Stadium. After the team's final practice before departing for Toronto, he said that a more conservative approach on the road is hardly unique to his team or to soccer.

"We want to play aggressive at home and play aggressive away from home, but if you look around the world, the home team is usually the more aggressive team," he said. "That's in their heads. That's not the coaches.

"We want them to play exactly the same way. I want to play away from home just as aggressively as here. That's more psychological than physical."

The Crew's offensive fortunes improved against the expansion Impact in part because of a switch in formation. In the loss to the Rapids, Emilio Renteria was the lone forward as Warzycha went with five midfielders to set the attack. Poor passing resulted in few scoring chances.

Since that game, offseason international signee Olman Vargas has worked his way into the starting lineup. Paired with Renteria, he scored his first goal against Montreal and has generated excitement among his teammates.

"We've talked about Vargas getting used to the speed of play and his teammates, but I could see that this week was another step forward (for him)," Warzycha said.

The ability to play two forwards with confidence has made midfielder Eddie Gaven believe the Crew can build off the positive momentum established against Montreal.

It just has to figure out how to do it on the road.

"We scored two goals and probably could have had four or five (against the Impact), but their goalie made some really good saves," Gaven said. "Sometimes it is slightly different playing on the road because you want to keep things tight and not get too spread out. At the same time, you can't just sit back and play defense because that doesn't work. We probably won't change too much."

Rookie midfielder Kirk Urso said the team's passing will be more important today because Toronto's back line pushes higher up the field than most teams. Connecting several passes in a row should help the Crew control the tempo.

"In any game, you want to be the aggressor," he said. "Playing at home makes it easier because you've got the crowd and everything on your side. Going into Toronto, we want to try to dictate the game and dictate the rhythm. We want to score first, so that's going to be an objective."

The Crew could get another boost if midfielder Dilly Duka is able to play after missing the home opener because of a hamstring injury. He is listed as questionable on the injury report.

"He's almost back fit," Gaven said. "When he gets back, he's going to be a huge asset for us."